Qatar Airways said on Monday that it would suspend its direct service to Osaka, in Japan, from April next year for "commercial reasons".

It did not elaborate. Earlier this year a person close to the Gulf carrier said it was reviewing services to Japan because of "sizeable losses" blamed on airport restrictions.

Qatar Airways was said to be concerned that Japan's policies over airport slot allocation made it difficult to operate at times of day when connections are profitable.

Qatar Airways first launched services to Japan with a daily link to Osaka in 2005. It added Tokyo-Narita in 2010 and most recently added Tokyo-Haneda in 2014.

It will continue flying the Tokyo routes, it said in a statement on Monday. - Reuters